Most
cultures of the world have believed that at least 90 percent of the universe
is essentially non-visible. Contemporary physicists readily admit that
they rarely see what they study. Rather, like the search for Big Foot’s
footprints, they can only employ outrageously complex technological devices
to illustrate the evidence that elementary particles of reality have previously
been where they can no longer be seen to exist. Zen art (like some the
of the best western conceptual art) was devoted to invoking a similarly
non-material reality. Zen potters have always been interested in the human
experience of what they understood as more than visible, just as western
conceptual artists are interested in the non-commodity aspect of art.
For Zen practitioners it is what they call the essence or spirit of a
moment in time/space that is of value...Janis
Runge
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